


Ready

by Ishti



Series: New Quest [1]
Category: Aveyond
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-03-06 03:42:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13402719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ishti/pseuds/Ishti
Summary: She is you.





	Ready

_It's time._

The forest is thick and teeming with life. Ravwyrns, you recall, and wolves, and large squirrels, and sometimes ghastly spirits. You've cut them all down, by blade and by ballad. They stay clear of you now as you stride down the narrow trail. You're purposeful. You can't say how long you've been walking this sedated forest path--months, by now; maybe years--but you know exactly where you're going.

This place is an uncanny hybrid of memory. You have been here before, and here, and here. The ground beneath your feet, while carpeted in a modest layer of verdant grass and fallen leaves, dulls into an anemic brown of dirt and death clearly visible beneath the glistening patches of life. Even the trees, while jacketed in summertime leaves, are scorched beneath the greenery. Strangest of all, everything--from the trees to the grass to the dirt below--shimmers, iridescent, with a purple hue. When you tilt your head just so, everything in sight turns violet, like a forest of tempered steel.

There is a mountain ahead. You know it, although you can't see it over the trees until it's quite close, and by then, you can only see the stones and cliffs of its summit. You will climb it.

The path grows rocky as you approach, signaling your imminent ascent. You round a bend in the path, pushing a low branch firmly out of your way. _Hush, hush,_ say the leaves, as if to remind you, _listen, for all beginnings are worth hearing._

There's the cave. You grimace, wishing this journey could begin with a simple climb, and fidget with the end of your braid. There is no other way to ascend the mountain; you know that you must take the blind passage before you can see, clear as the day, the mountain up which you travel. You know the danger within. It curdles your stomach.

_There can be no wisdom without adversity._

You know that's true, and it makes you sigh. You raise your eyes to the highest visible point of the mountain, an overhang several dozen feet above you. Beyond that, you know the peak, massive though it may be, is obscured by a veil of clouds. No matter how high you climb, the ending of your journey will be concealed until you reach it.

"You could hide the whole city of Thais up there," you say aloud. The sound of your own voice makes you smile. You haven't heard it in a while.

_Only one way exists to learn your ending._

You take one last deep breath of the forest air, smelling the cool scent of evergreens, the lush wetness of rain-laden leaves, the smoky gray of the erstwhile battlefield, the metallic tang of dreams. You'll smell them all again soon.

_It's time to begin._

Balling your fists, you step just to the threshold of the cave. You're shaking a little, with determination, excitement, and trepidation. It's been too long since your last ascent, yet, says some trembling chamber of your heart, not long enough.

"Maybe I'll be ready this time," you murmur. "Maybe."


End file.
